TCW vs. Rebels debates are not allowed in the Television forum. As in, discussions that descend into TCW/Rebels bashing/gushing will be subject to Mod action. Contrasting the themes, story lines, characters, etc. between the shows is allowed (welcomed, even). "Versus" debates/arguments, however, are a deal-breaker.

I know we have a ?is this series canon? thread, however I thought we should have a thread dedicated to appreciating this series which has unfortunately been thrown to the ?weigh-side? of the current series. Having just re-watched this series I have a new found my own personal appreciation for it. Given that I think it may be a good idea to perhaps do a ?rate this episode? for this series as a whole as well...

This series, for me, has a classic charm which the current series seems to be lacking/missing. Whilst the current series is good in its own respects, with its fantastic storytelling and deep and intricate plot devices, this series seems to step to the side of this. It may be because, to me, this is my ?nostalgic? Star Wars with TPM and AOTC, and as such I have a liking for this series which is possibility within a minority and rather unique. Something about this series however holds my attentiveness, with its cool music, simple yet enticing plot, exceptional choreography and groundbreaking (for Star Wars) cartoon imagery. Furthermore the Battle Droids within this series seem to be an idealistic representation, being dim witted yet scary at the same time.

Furthermore I think this series serves as a genuine PRELUDE for The Clone Wars with the establishment of Asajj Ventress, the introduction of General Grievous and the process of Anakin Knighthood. As such, to me Season One, Season Two and the first half of Season Three of Clone Wars are deeply entrenched within my personal canon.

We should also use this thread in an attempt to streamline the continuity between Clone Wars and The Clone Wars.

I love both series and have watched both in their entirety recently. Looking at this thread gave me a thought: both series have more in-depth, meaningful stories as they go along. Look at the first versus third season in both, there's a huge difference in each, both heading in the same direction, which gives them a commonality.

"Gee, Captain Fordo, it's a good thing we brought all those explosives for a change, huh?"
"What do you mean 'for a change'?"
"Nevermind...uh...is that a group of bikers destroying our heavy walkers with jousting sticks?"

Definitely had incredible entertainment value. And it's short, so there's less room to nitpick.

Though I don't know how to classify this exactly. Is it 'less is more' because they only had five to ten minutes per short? Or is it 'let's cram more and more into less' because of all the crazy stuff going down? Either way, I gotta give props to Genndy. Guy does a fantastic job.

As to 'where it fits'...well, easiest answer is that the first volume occurs before TCW, while TCW occurs before the second volume, at least with the point of Anakin's vision quest.

If I had to nitpick, (and I do), I would complain about the voice acting for some characters. Namely, Anakin, Padme, and Ventress.

It might be closer to the films, but this version of Anakin sounds like his crotch is in a vice-grip. The problem with Padme and Ventress is a bit more puzzling. Both were voiced by Grey DeLisle, who I usually love as a voice actress. She sounds fine as Shaak Ti, but these two just sound either too screechy, or over-acted.

But apart from that, the voices were great. John friggin' DiMaggio played Grievous! Bender is Grievous!

As much as I love Matthew Wood's voice work as Grievous, I can't help but admit DiMaggio-Grievous will always hold a special place in my heart.

And so too will the rest of Genndy's show. I've watched those old episodes more times than I can count. Except for the boring one with the rain fight on Yavin.... too much Crounching-Tiger and not enough plot in that one.

Also, another great thing about this series: you can show it to casual Star Wars fans, and they love them. They're quick, the plot moves right along, and they're creative. It's a lot harder getting casual fans to sit through most of the new TCWs.

Yeah, they're not easy to compare. To me, at least, it seems that when TCW is good, it far exceeds anything Genndy's show did. But when it's bad... it's pretty abysmal.

I think that's what comes when you have a bunch of different people working on a huge project like TCW. Genndy's show wasn't as large-scale, so quality was fairly consistent. For the new shows, even if the initial ideas were thought up by all the same people and the editing is managed by the same group for every episode, there are still so many folks involved and split-second decisions bouncing around among so many people that the final outcome is far more variable.

The more I think about that fiasco, the more I think that turbo lance fiasco is both one of my favourite scenes, as well as one of the most outrageous sequences to me. Not quite Mace on Dantooine, but still.

Also props to DiMaggio. His Grievous sounded awesome, and at the same time, NOTHING like his more prominent voice roles.

Battle of Muunilinst BY FAR my favourite scene in Star Wars. We had Fordo and his beast ARC Troopers, epic space battle with millions of Geonosian starfighters, and of course...DURGE!!! Man he really needs to come back. But as a Gen'Dai.

The micro-series, in all its 2 hours 10 minutes, had more epicosity than the 24+hours so far of TCW, I'm afraid to say.

If I had to nitpick, (and I do), I would complain about the voice acting for some characters. Namely, Anakin, Padme, and Ventress.

It might be closer to the films, but this version of Anakin sounds like his crotch is in a vice-grip. The problem with Padme and Ventress is a bit more puzzling. Both were voiced by Grey DeLisle, who I usually love as a voice actress. She sounds fine as Shaak Ti, but these two just sound either too screechy, or over-acted.

But apart from that, the voices were great. John friggin' DiMaggio played Grievous! Bender is Grievous!

Click to expand...

I agree about Ventress and Anakin but i hate Grievous too don't think that echo is cool- guy sounds like public announcement or something not a character ......in fact i hate all voices in this (Mace will do and Durge, maybe San Hill, all the rest are just bad) but since this is "appreciation" thread i can say i like the series it's fun to watch- it has big explosions and all- nice battles and music is used nicely it's cool Star Wars- something TCW should show more....

hey this is supposedly appreciation thread i don't like any voices really- Yoda is okay and Dooku and Mace but Saesee is just a bad joke really i always laugh to his "attack!"-order- Sidious is odd hissing guy etc.
ok Qui-Gon imitation was not bad in Yoda's vision....

Yeah, they're not easy to compare. To me, at least, it seems that when TCW is good, it far exceeds anything Genndy's show did. But when it's bad... it's pretty abysmal.

I think that's what comes when you have a bunch of different people working on a huge project like TCW. Genndy's show wasn't as large-scale, so quality was fairly consistent. For the new shows, even if the initial ideas were thought up by all the same people and the editing is managed by the same group for every episode, there are still so many folks involved and split-second decisions bouncing around among so many people that the final outcome is far more variable.

Click to expand...

Agreed on all points.

I recently rewatched this series and was pleasantly surprised by how well it held up. Yes, Genndy had the advantage of having 5 minutes per episode to do a couple really awesome scenes, but he packed a whole lot of awesome into a small package.

I was thinking it would be amazing to take a TCW episode and turn it into a 5-minute "CW" episode, and we could have a contest. Unfortunately, due to copyright issues, I don't think that would ever happen.

Well Shaak is not bad and Obi-Wan is just like in TCW- oh wait..... but i don't like Palpy or Ki-Adi for example... Oppo was ok too he had funny way to talk - i wonder if TCW will give him different voice though.....